With the Port’s participation in the Lower Willamette Group and the Portland Harbor Partnership, news about regional Superfund cleanups is always informative. This article on efforts to clean up a five-mile stretch of Seattle’s Duwamish River is a must-read. The Duwamish Superfund process is a few years ahead of where we are in Portland Harbor, but with similar challenges, including legacy contamination from World War II activities and many parties that are responsible for pollution but are no longer around or in business, leaving the cleanup to those groups still standing. Interesting to watch the progress up north as we move closer to the completion of a Portland Harbor draft feasibility study, which will provide the menu of options the Environmental Protection Agency will use to make cleanup decisions for the Willamette.

The Oregon Health Authority recently released the final version of the Public Health Assessment addressing the recreational use of the Portland Harbor Superfund site, a segment of the Willamette River located between the Broadway Bridge and Sauvie Island. OHA’s updated report reflects input received during a lengthy public comment period that ended in July 2010. The entire report is available online, with an informative summary and project flyers also available. The independent health assessment concluded that the main threats to human health from the Portland Harbor Superfund site come from eating resident fish that live year-round in the Harbor, not from recreational use of the area.

The Portland Harbor Community Advisory Group is hosting Superfund Field Day this Saturday, July 9, to share information about the environmental cleanup of the lower Willamette River. The event, from noon to 3:00 p.m., will be held at beautiful Cathedral Park in North Portland. In addition to great information and fun activities from many groups involved in cleaning up Portland Harbor, the Field Day will feature free jet boat tours – space is limited, so come early to sign up!

For more information about the Portland Harbor Superfund project, visit the Environmental Protection Agency and the Lower Willamette Group. To learn more about the Port's efforts at Terminal 4, don't miss the Community Advisory Group meeting the following Wednesday, July 13, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the BES Lab, 6543 N. Burlington Ave., in North Portland. T4 project manager Kelly Madalinski will present the latest on our work to clean up contamination at this busy marine terminal.

When the draft remedial investigation report for the Portland Harbor Superfund site is stacked vertically, it’s nearly three feet high. Packed with maps, charts, and graphs, the report, which was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by a coalition of businesses and public agencies in October 2009, analyzes more than 1 million data points.

But perhaps the most important result from the report is that it concludes nearly eight years of study of Willamette River sediment, and clears a path forward to actual river cleanup and rehabilitation. Jim McKenna, Lower Willamette program manager for the Port, explained, “We now have the data needed to make meaningful cleanup decisions.”

With that said, actual in-water work is still years away, with several important steps to reach first. McKenna noted, “Right now, EPA is reviewing the site risk assessment and risk characterization.” Risk assessments make conservative estimates of potential risks to human health and the environment. Risk characterizations evaluate risk assessment dataaccording to real-life context. Risk assessments might determine the impacts of someone eating a certain kind of fish 19 times a month over 30 years. A risk characterization asks if that’s a reasonable expectation. “EPA will then make risk management decisions that drive the remedies chosen and where in the harbor they’re applied.”

From the Port’s perspective, moving forward as expediently as possible is ideal. “We want to clean up the river, remove the Superfund stigma, and give people another reason to be proud of how we do things in Portland,” said Bill Wyatt, Port of Portland executive director.

Getting there won’t be easy – or inexpensive. To date, Port costs exceed $66 million, and the Port is just one of more than 100 identified potentially responsible parties. Engaged parties are working to meet the next major milestone: a feasibility study of cleanup measures. The study includes scientific evaluations, like the chemical “fate and transport model,” which looks at how chemicals in the river migrate or settle. And there’s also a larger public discussion of cleanup goals and activities. While EPA is charged with making decisions on cleanup remedies, the agency looks to the public for input on how to balance environmental protectiveness, fiscal responsibility and appropriate methods.

With each milestone reached, we’re closer to the point where expenditures are dedicated to cleanup work, not reports. Meanwhile, numerous other efforts to improve Willamette water quality continue. Wyatt said, “Many Superfund rivers will be more contaminated after they finish cleaning up the pollution than the Willamette is before we even begin cleanup work. While the Willamette has legacy contamination, Portlanders are starting from a good place that can only help us get to a better place.”

The Port was the first entity to sign a cleanup order with the Environmental Protection Agency. At Terminal 4, the Port has completed the first phase of in-water cleanup and removed upland sources of contamination. The second phase of the work – a confined disposal facility to be built in one of the terminal’s slips – is on hold while harborwide remedy decisions are made. A final Record of Decision from EPA, which will precede most cleanup efforts, is not expected until at least 2012.

Cleanup Facts:

The cost of the investigation stems from the challenges of studying a complex site spread over 10 miles.

Chemical concentrations in sediment are greater deep down, indicating that sources of contamination more likely occurred farther back in the harbor’s history, and that surface sediment quality has improved over time.

Contamination includes PCBs and, to a lesser extent, dioxins, PAHs, and DDT.